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Category / How to start a subculture

The Weird and Wonderful Wheels of Jay Ohrberg

He has designed the “Ghostbusters” ambulance car, the “Knight Rider” car, the RoboCop car, the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle'” van, the Pink Panther mobile, and just about every impressive televised car worth a mention. Step aside Elon Musk, this truck driver and stunt racer turned carmaker from Illinois is arguably America’s most creative and innovative…

In Nazi-Occupied Paris, Swing Kids had their own Resistance Movement

They aren’t remembered for their political or intellectual outpourings, nor for their radical actions in the streets. The only weapons of the Zazou were dress, speech and attitude, and yet, this Parisian subculture somehow came to be a thorn in the side of Nazis and French Fascists. Throughout history, fashion has always been a reliable…

And Now, A Brief Compendium of Neo-Victorians

Neo-Victorianism – a curious and persevering movement of reproducing, or in some way, reinterpreting, Victorian ways of life. This includes, but is not limited to, wearing top hats, corsets, silky waistcoats, an appreciation for Jane Austen, Alice in Wonderland tattoos and morbid mysteries. We’re not here to wax nostalgic about the wonders of Victorian living,…

The Forgotten Superheroes of Blaxploitation Movies

Black Panther swept the box office when it came out in 2018 and quickly became one of the top grossing superhero movies of all time. While it not only boasts a predominantly Black cast, it is one of the few modern films truly centred around Black heroes. There is still a long way to go…

Don’t Forget the Fearless Father of Unisex Clothing

From Harry Styles to Diane Keaton, household names of every generation continue to embrace and explore fashion that goes beyond the traditional gender binary. And as brands take note of an increasingly mainstream social shift, from luxury to fast fashion, the 2020s are on well course to being remembered as the decade that unisex fashion…

What Lies Beneath: The Curious Underworld Of Hobby Tunnelling

In 1924, a truck accidentally sank into a backlot in Washington DC, opening a sinkhole and revealing a labyrinth of tunnels. People were aghast at what had been found; there was talk of bootleggers and spies that would later make the front page of the Healdsburg Tribune, but no one had any answers. Eventually, a…

The Inexplicably Fascinating Japanese Art of Being Useless

“Not always useful, but not altogether useless” is the mantra behind Chindōgu, a Japanese art form that calls for stilettos with built-in umbrellas, noodle bibs for the face, and glue sticks filled with butter (that one we get). They’re nonsensical inventions on a mission, missing the mark of utility by a hair, and on purpose. “I…

All the Sneaky Tricks of Prohibition Bootleggers

I found this photograph floating around on the internet today of a truck ingeniously camouflaged by bootleggers during the Prohibition, being inspected by authorities in Los Angeles, California. You can tell even those inspectors are impressed by the level of artful deviousness. It got me curious to see what other tricks these bootleggers tried. The crazier the caper,…

Discovering Black Outsider Art in a Whitewashed World

Their abilities don’t come from any artistic establishment. They didn’t have any formal training and they were not influenced by other mainstream artists. Hailing from places like Mississippi, Tallapoosa, and other rural pockets of the deep south, they’re the African American Outsider and Folk artists whose voices and colour palettes explored a world that wasn’t…

The Macaroni Club: Fashion History’s Forgotten Drag Subculture?

There’s a famous American song “Yankee Doodle” – you might’ve heard of it – the lyrics go like this: “Yankee Doodle went to town, A-riding on a pony, Stuck a feather in his cap, And called it macaroni.” The familiar patriotic tune was in fact created by the British to mock the Americans during the…

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